Monday, September 22, 2008

Get mintInstall, mintMenu and mintDesktop on Ubuntu!!

Linux Mint is a famous Linux Distro which is based on Ubuntu. Linux Mint comes preloaded with various goodies preloaded to give users an excellent experience 'out of the box'. Linux Mint makes have made some software to make Ubuntu even cooler. There is an entire suite of Mint applications, created specifically to make Mint experience better than other distro. These include mintInstall, mintDesktop, mintMenu etc.
Out of these I was most impressed by mintInstall and mintMenu . Everyone who has every used Linux Mint knows that these two applications are worth the switch to Linux Mint over Ubuntu. Obviously Mint also has other things to keep you occupied.
So I have finally discovered a way to get the goodness of Mint on your Ubuntu.
I am honestly loving the mintMenu, it is 100 times better than the default Ubuntu menu launcher. mintMenu has these following features which make it standout fromt the other launchers:

1. Neat Layout: Unlike Ubuntu's dropdown list, mintMenu prefers to give you larger screen are. It makes choosing your prefered application very easy. 2. Filter: This is the killer feature. It gives you an Vista like search box, by which you can search your needed applications quickly.
I only have to type, 'fir ' before mintMenu filters out all other applications. This is an welcome relief from Ubuntu menu, where I have to be careful in selecting out Firefox from the other 50 programs sharing common space under the sub genre 'internet'. 3. Favorites: Favorites is an easy way to keep all your selected apps together.4. Easier Navigation: mintMenu's 3 pane approach makes you more productive.

Now about the mintInstall:
Most Linux users do know that Synaptic is a delight for newbies. Synaptic allows you to install Softwares without touching the terminal. It makes software installation a one click process. However Synaptic has its own limitations.

Synaptic has short review in text-no images to help you in making your decision
Synaptic is a desktop based app, so it has to keep downloading updates to make sure its library of software is complete and up to date. Unfortunately this process isn't so simple. It requires the user to regularly hit the 'Reload' button in order to update it.
This update isn't incremental. Synaptic will redownload the entire file structure for updating itself
There are no user reviews to help user take a decision.

So, I wondered was there any way by which I could add the goodness of mint to my Ubuntu (Heron), without joining the Linux Mint group?
To install mintinstall on your system do this:1. Go to http://packages.linuxmint.com/ an download the mintsystem ,mintinstall and mintMenu files, pickup the mintDesktop file if you want to. All of them are extremely small in size.
Install them by double clicking on the files. Make sure you install mintSystem first.2. To get the mintMenu:
Inorder to use the mintMenu, right click on the panel you use and selecet "Add to Panel". Now scroll down until you can see mintMenu. Double click it and enjoy the benefits of mintMenu. You will gat a beautiful "Elyssa Menu". Remove the older Ubuntu launcher by right clicking on it and select "Remove From Panel". 3. Now for the mintInstall: Click on the Elyssa Menu. Now go to Administration > mintInstall. You will get an box like this: Now search for any application. I am looking Banshee music player.
Now mintInstall will open an webpage, taking you to the appropriate webpage for banshee. If you are using it for the first time, remember it will take some time. The next time mintInstall will work instantaneously.
Now you can read the reviews and download the application by hitting the big "Install Now" button. You will have to download a small .mint file, the size will be in kbs. It is these tiny .mint files which do all the trick!

Save the .mint file to desktop. Double click on it and a box will pop up [Open with] asking you to select which application to use for opening this file. Now click on "Use Costum Command". Next click on the browse button. Navigate to the
File System > usr > bin, now scroll down to mintInstall. Thats it!

Now mintInstall will do its magic.
To browse Linux Mint's extensive list of software to this site: http://www.linuxmint.com/software/ You can install software from this site with a single click. Select Elyssa if you are on Hardy Heron.
If you have any question, post a comment.